Want to become a champion? Learn to cook!

As a nutrition expert, Samefko Ludidi works with combat sports athletes at the highest level. Everyone he speaks to is occupied with two things: what are the latest insights on sport and nutrition? And how do I invest now in my future self? The answers lie closer together than you might think.

By Samefko Ludidi

Every (elite) athlete knows that food is fuel for the body, including the brain. The better the fuel, the better the engine runs. What you eat and drink affects your weight, of course. But also your ability to take in new information during training. Your stamina during competition. Your capacity to recover after a bout. Your mood, and therefore your relationships as well. As an athlete you have to be conscious about it. Certainly if you want to get the best out of yourself.

More than calories
The fuel we take in through food is often expressed in calories or kilocalories. That is a unit we use to measure energy, just as we use (kilo)grams to measure weight. But food is more than calories. It contains all kinds of building blocks, such as carbohydrates and proteins. As a result, two different meals with the same number of calories can still have a very different effect. By focusing only on calories, you miss opportunities to improve the quality of your food.

Proteins: but how?
Proteins are important building blocks. It does matter in which carriers they enter your body. Meat is a source of protein, but good meat contains so much more. Vitamins, minerals, fibre, all elements that are important for processing proteins and other substances. So when you only drink protein shakes, you miss many substances that are present in protein-rich food and that help with burning energy and recovery.

Fresh or from the factory?
Compare a piece of fresh fruit with a sports bar. They may contain the same number of calories, but the bar does not contain the same vitamins, minerals and fibre as the fruit. As a result, your body gets hungry again sooner after the bar. People can usually keep eating factory food longer than fresh produce. Loosely speaking, people polish off two kilos from the snack bar more easily than two kilos of fresh fish. If you want to benefit fully from what you eat and drink, avoid factory-made food where you can and eat fresh ingredients instead. They fill you up better, which helps with weight management, and contain far more vitamins that are good for your metabolism.

Convenience is tempting
When we are tired it is tempting to choose convenience. Trained hard and still have to eat? Then you would rather heat up a ready meal than start cooking. But the better you can cook, the easier it is and the less time it takes. The more you master cooking, the sooner you will still throw together something healthy yourself. If succeeding or failing as an elite athlete comes down to the last few per cent, the so-called marginal gains, why leave this gain on the table?

Invest now and benefit for the rest of your life
It is not without reason that all elite athletes have food high on their performance list. What can you do? Learn to cook well, or make sure you have someone around you who can support you in that, a partner for example. Buy good cookbooks, comb through YouTube, take a course, develop a pleasure in cooking. Create a tasty alternative yourself to counter the temptation of unhealthy food. The quality of your meals (and therefore your fuel) improves lastingly. And beyond sport: so does the quality of your life. Does it take some effort? Yes, at first. But the health journey is a long-term investment you benefit from for life.